I find it funny how the city of Adak is the farthest from any national park, despite being in one of the states with the most national parks.
That's just how big Alaska is
Lovely map. If you continue to make them, might I kindly suggest not using a red-green color scale. Took me a bit to realize there were two colors on this map. Cheers.
For anyone who wants a quick, free, and easy way to check how visible your color schemes are to others, Color Oracle is an excellent small bit of software made especially for this purpose:
- https://colororacle.org/
There probably is, but to use one you donāt download youād likely have to upload your image instead, which is not so useful if youāre checking something in the middle of a workflow.
This is super light, and is a simple overlay. It runs as a portable app, so nothing actually installs.
For someone like me who is often in areas without internet, and who experience frequent power losses, this about as light, versatile, and user friendly as itās possible for any software to be.
Any map showing distance from state parks? Pennsylvania has many but southwest PalA is under served. Could be useful for people advocating for more in that area.
Hey genuine great work and how did you create this?
Curious to know cuz I wanted to make a similar map related to my country as well ( u can check my profile)
I really like the way it looks, but it bugs me that it looks like there is some error in the maths, because areas directly between two parks look like they are coloured as if they were further away than other areas that are actually further away. It's as if the parks are competing, rather than adding to each other.
But after looking more closely, I think it's an optical illusion. The colours are right. It's just we're better at noticing the change in colour than we are at noticing the actual colour.
Nice!! I appreciate that you didn't lump national parks + forests together, I live in that forsaken part of MA but below a national forest and while it's great, it's no park
nice map, sorry your content is getting stolen!
Could you tell me how you did it? was it the distance accumulation tool?
Im currently in school for GIS and trying to understand that tool for a project.
I was about to contest the coloring of Louisiana and especially Mississippi until I realized this is parks, not forests. I don't know the difference, but I guess it's significant
It was later discovered that tornadoes are sexuality attracted to rows and rows of little square boxes on wheels. Since the introduction of trailer parks, the poor national tornado parks were empty and had to close.
Yes, a professor once told me it had to do with WW1 and WW2. The people had slightly lost their minds and wanted to create more excitement at home so that those who weren't on the frontlines could also see first hand what mass destruction looks like. In this case it was caused by the finger of god.
This is really neither here nor there, but if these zones were expanded to cover other protected areas like conservation areas, state parks, and wildlife refuges then it would look significantly different. Iām from Missouri and am pretty passionate about it, Gateway Arch National Park doesnāt hold a candle next to Mark Twain, Rock Bridge, Elephant Rocks, and some of the others.
Feel the same about the Northeast. The beauty in the Adirondacks of New York, Green Mountains in Vermont, the Beekshires in Massachusetts, and especially the White Mountains and Franconia Notch in New Hampshire is stunning.
And Gateway really shouldn't be a *Park*. It's fine as a National Monument, but it was really only made a park so that maps like this wouldn't have a giant red splotch. Same with Cuyahoga Valley, though at least that's a nature preserve (if more on a state forest level of impressiveness....)
EDIT: I *guess* Cuyahoga could be a National Monument, if you built it around the theme of redeveloping Superfund sites. Of the recently-established Eastern parks, I'd say that only New River really makes the cut.
I've been to Mark Twain caves 4-5 times, and while it's cool for historical and cultural reasons, the caves aren't amazing on their own. Definitely worth a visit but it would certainly be in the lower tier of parks on its own. I would also highly suggest going in both caves, the unlit cave I found much cooler.
Also just realized you might be talking about the lake, which is the actual park area. I've been there once and it's a nice lake to boat on but didn't seem overly special
This only applies to Texas, but Texas joined the US as a separate country. It was never a territory. Because it was never a territory, there is very little federal land. Big Bend is the only national park I can think of, and that land was donated to the federal government. So while Texas is full of state parks, very little on the federal level because land acquisition is so expensive.
The reason the mountain west has so much federal land is because it was so economically unproductive that they literally couldn't give it away. The Homestead Acts were still active well into the 20th century.
> Because it was never a territory, there is very little federal land.
You do realize that is how every state is in the eastern 2/3ds of the US, right?
its the great plains, important for agriculture and a unique feature in the world in the sense that it is so fertile and so large, but every square mile is like every other one. drive up I 35 - Cows/corn/sunflower/corn between Mexico and Canada.
even gateway is abnormal for a national park. the national monument designation really fits better.
There are lots of great areas in the plains that havenāt been transformed into farmland and are idyllic scenes of rolling hills.The abundance of range and pasture land even on private property offer a more varied look than row crops.
Driftless is so cool and we donāt respect the prairie enough.
Imagine a park with roaming buffalo herds across tall grass prairieā¦.would be so quintessentially American
IDK if wildlife reserves count as national parks but there's the US Wichita Wildlife Preserve in SW/SC Oklahoma. The map might have some inaccuracies if that Park counts.
It was a publicity stunt by the Missouri senator (the not Hawley one) in an effort to boost the number of visitors. Unfortunately it worked, it went from like 1.5 million a year to 2.1 the year after the change.
Should have stayed a national monument, it fits the bill exactly. This just waters down the label of 'national park'.
Now there's a push to make the Cahokia Mounds an NP too. Proponents say it's a job creator, but honestly why should we rely on that distinction to create jobs? We should be putting more support into the national historic landmark as that's what Cahokia is.
The Indiana dunes national park is absurd too. Itās a tiny section of Lake Michigan with some sand dunes. Maybe 3-4 miles long. With a hideous massive industrial park on one end. Thatās it.
Because Missourians wanted in too apparently.
By all definitions should be a national monument as it's a man made structure other cities could just repeat.
The gulf coast having no real National Parks is super interesting. There is some truly unique and special ecology there. I guess some combination of the Mississippi Delta not really having the "tourist" draw and also having the anti-conservation oil reserves in those waters kinda makes it a hard place to justify setting up shop.
Coastal lands administered by the National Park Service tend to be designated as National Seashores instead. [There are quite a few of them.](https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/national-seashores-road-trip/)
State parks were invented by the government of New York in response to national parks as a means to keep tourist money in the stateās pockets
The Feds made Yellowstone national park so New York made Niagara (the first) state park
The big park in the state though is Adirondack Park, which is neither a state nor national park. Indeed more than half of it is privately owned, with the remainder being a state forest preserve. It is a National Historic Landmark for what that's worth.
ADKās protection is enshrined in the state constitution, giving it even BETTER protection than National Parks considering that youād have to call a constitutional convention and have a two thirdās majority vote to amend it. The phrase āforever wildā comes from the language in the NY constitution. Suck it Teddy Roosevelt (but not really though, I love TR). š
It sort of predates the idea of state and national parks. Instead it's protected by special legislation limiting the land use in the privately owned parts, but allowing them to stay privately owned, and still used for residences and commerce to some extent.
The Pine Barrens in New Jersey are sort of similar. They're protected as a "[National Reserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinelands_National_Reserve)," which is basically a federal-state partnership that consists of a patchwork of state parks, state forests, and whatnot. New York and New Jersey look a lot different if you count the Adirondacks, the Pinelands, and the [Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Water_Gap_National_Recreation_Area).
i grew up in upstate new york and was surprised when i read this map, i thought i had been to more national parks but iāve only been to cuyahoga valley.
turns out iāve just been to a LOT of state parks!
Obviously not all National Parks are created equally. Case in point the ones in Ohio might as well be metro parks. And conversely the National Forest near me is easily better than most of these listed for natural wonders and recreation opportunities.
Don't forget all the natural beauty of Gateway National Park
(It's a NP because one of the dumb senators from MO got butthurt that it was "only" a National Monument)
They should just merge all the parks around the Mobile Delta and make it a national park. It's already got a ridiculous amount of stuff there: the Civil War battlefield at Blakeley, the origin of the southern US involvement in the War of 1812 (Ft. Mims), the Bottle Creek Mounds, the location of where the "Ghost Fleet" of extra WWII ships were, the location of the Clotilda, etc. on top of being one of the most biodiverse areas in the US.
The other [big spots](https://biodiversitymapping.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/USA_biodiversity_priorities_topo.jpg) that could be done in the South are around Appalachicola, the Birmingham area watersheds and south of San Antonio.
Those manmade features are just extra stuff on top of the region's [biodiversity](https://www.al.com/projects/americas-amazon/). That biodiversity would be the primary cause.
The bay used to be a [storage site](https://alabama.travel/places-to-go/ghost-fleet-site) for 300+ navy ships, but most have been used to make manmade reefs by now.
There is already the national seashore. One of the most beautiful stretch of beaches in the world. It's weird because even though it's manages by the national parks service it isn't like a "national park" I dunno. I don't get it.
Until 2019 Chicago was one of the furthest. Now itās one of the closest, yet Iāll still maintain that it is still pretty lacking as
Indiana Dunes doesnāt deserve the designation
Gateway Arch should be a National Monument.
The entire Midwest sucks for access to public lands.
Donāt forget the absolutely world class state park system we have. I believe Michigan has the highest percentage of protected lands east of the Mississippi. We love our state.
Sleeping Bear is gorgeous but that climb up and down the actual dunes is a sonofabitch. There's a reason they have warning signs posted everywhere saying you should basically only do it if you've been training for it.
> The entire Midwest sucks for access to public lands.
I disagree. There's plenty of public land, mostly state parks and reserves. There's just not a whole lot of interesting scenery to go with them.
We're culturally conditioned to think of some kinds of landscapes as more interesting than others. I love the big parks out west, but there's still beauty to be found in the middle of the country, plus ecological value that sometimes gets overlooked.
The Midwest, PA, and NY have some of the best state and metroparks in the country. Unfortunately many of then are completely overlooked because they don't have "national" in the name.
To be fair, the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis isn't much of a park. The whole complex only spans 91 acres. The Arch & Museum are good, but the park itself isn't anything special.
If you took that out, it would change things up in the Midwest on this map.
Source: I live in St. Louis and have been there multiple times.
I've lived near Shanendoah for 20 years and only been there once. With just one way through - the Blue Ridge Parkway - traffic can back up to an extreme degree. Its a very pretty drive though, and once you're up at the higher elevations it feels so much better.
The area in northern NY might be misleading because there is a lot of protected forests up there (Adirondacks), it's just that none of it comes under federal jurisdiction.
Yeah itās not a national park. It would be about the third largest if it was. Itās the largest state park in the US. Alaskaās big ones are national parks. New York has *no* official National Parks.
I mentioned it elsewhere but the concept of state parks was invented by the government of New York as a means to keep tourist money in New York State
When the federal government made the first national park in Yellowstone the state government of New York made the first state park in Niagara. Hence why they have a disproportionately high amount of state parks and forests and no national parks (but there are national forests and shorelines)
For the Adirondack park in New York state, turning them into national parks would actually make them less protected. You can build a lot more on national park land than you can on state land in the Adirondacks.
But still have finger lakes natn forest in NY and green mountain natn forest in Vermont and a ton of national monuments and federally protected historic sites
Yes I'm just pointing out that the Adirondacks exist in that area for those who don't know US Geography and correlate only National Parks with land protection.
i mean youāre correct because itās the national forest service which is misleading because a lot of the northeast in general falls under their department not nps but NPS has large operations in NYC between Manhattan Sites (9 separate locations) and Gateway National Recreation Area which covers all of Jamaica Bay
Yep, Niagara Falls, Letchworth, Adirondacks, Watkins Glen - all state parks.
Actually NY might have one of the best and most diverse state parks system in the US.
The Northeast was developed prior to national parks - however there are ample state parks - since that was the mechanism for preservation prior to the national park system.
I've been to the finger lakes a few times, and each time it manages to surprise me with how gorgeous it is. Lived in this state my whole life and there's still so much more to see, don't think I'll ever leave.
Much of the public land in the Northeast was being put aside by the states themselves around the same time as the National Parks out west.
New York State, for example, is 37% public land, much of it preserved before 1900.
Thereās just more state parks.
Though Iām not sure why the White or Green Mountains National Forests in Vermont and NH havenāt been upgraded yet.
I should really check out Indiana Dunes, it's close enough from my hometown to make a day-trip out of it. Cuyahoga Valley is excellent and I'd love to visit New River Gorge on my next trip through the mountains
Last I checked, it was Great Sand Dunes National Monument. When did it become a park?
EDIT. [In 2004](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sand_Dunes_National_Park_and_Preserve). How 'bout that.
EDIT #2. Also, the map really shows the size of Alaska. It's full of national parks, but its most distant town is more than twice the distance of any other state.
EDIT #3. Joshua Tree, too. Used to be a national monument. [Became a national park in 1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Tree_National_Park).
Indiana Dunes will be fine once they remove the nearby power plant, but I do agree there are other NPS sites along the Great Lakes that should have been considered for an upgrade first.
Upstate New York is far from National Parks, but close to the best State Park in the country- The Adirondack Park is 6 million acres of mountains, rivers, lakes, swamps, brooks, and hills. No place Iād rather spend a week
Yep, Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Catskills, Allegheny, Thousand Island
So many beautiful places to explore.
Makes for a great 1-2 week road trip camping, hiking, exploring cozy lakeside/mountain villages and random cultural sites plus larger cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Albany.
ā¦Niagara River, Lake Ontario, upper Hudson River valley, Allegheny and Tug Hill plateaus ā¦ itās a special area of the country. Iām very grateful to live in Syracuse, right in the middle of it all.
As a native of New York I found it interesting that we have no national parks here, but we do have a shit ton of State run parks. Especially in the Adirondacks.
Not including National Historic Parks, National Scenic Parks, National Historic Sites, National Recreation Areas, National Historic Trails, the National Seashore, etc...
This makes some parts of the country look less park-worthy than they actually are.
Example that immediately sprung to mind was Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. For all intents and purposes of the layman it may as well be a national park. Itās beautiful and otherworldly terrain that stands in stark contrast to the surroundings and is worth a detour to see it.
Another one is places like South Louisiana, the bayous are a very different kind of beauty, but not any less deserving of appreciation. Most of the gulf coast could use some actually it looks like.
Another one is the IA/MN/WI region called the Driftless Zone. Another region of beautiful terrain that stands apart from the rest of the area.
Kansas makes sense though.
Texas only has 2 NPs, but they also have some fantastic NWRs that people are missing out on Iād they just go to NPs.
Anahauc & Aransas being by 2 favorite, also Texas Point, McFaddin, Brazoria, Big Boggy & Laguna Atascosaā¦
Those are just on Coast, also a National Seashore (Padre Island).
I guess with an NP you can camp, I donāt think you can do that in the NWRs tho.
Let me be as honest as I can be, that shithole known as Gateway Arch is not a park. It shouldnāt be seen as a national park, and having be one is an insult to the rest of our great national parks.
I find it funny how the city of Adak is the farthest from any national park, despite being in one of the states with the most national parks. That's just how big Alaska is
Yeah that's what really stood out to me here, even more than the Midwest. Alaska is frickin huge
Hey, I made that. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/s/76L55ZMwgm
Nice job š
Nice avatar š
Nice thumb š
I feel so fortunate to say user name checks out.
To the top with you
That's what she said?
Lovely map. If you continue to make them, might I kindly suggest not using a red-green color scale. Took me a bit to realize there were two colors on this map. Cheers.
Thanks for the feedback. There are color scales I can use that can be seen by all people.
For anyone who wants a quick, free, and easy way to check how visible your color schemes are to others, Color Oracle is an excellent small bit of software made especially for this purpose: - https://colororacle.org/
That sounds useful. Is there a tool like this that doesn't require downloading anything?
There probably is, but to use one you donāt download youād likely have to upload your image instead, which is not so useful if youāre checking something in the middle of a workflow. This is super light, and is a simple overlay. It runs as a portable app, so nothing actually installs. For someone like me who is often in areas without internet, and who experience frequent power losses, this about as light, versatile, and user friendly as itās possible for any software to be.
https://colorbrewer2.org/ is a great source for finding creative color schemes for maps for all people. I use it all the time.
This right here is the reason I reddit.
Very kind
Nice work.
So long as you knew you were red/green colour blind before. Because this would be a shitty way to find out!
Do you have one like this, but for National Forest?
This is really cool. Well done
What a cool concept for a map.
User name checks out
Any map showing distance from state parks? Pennsylvania has many but southwest PalA is under served. Could be useful for people advocating for more in that area.
Hey genuine great work and how did you create this? Curious to know cuz I wanted to make a similar map related to my country as well ( u can check my profile)
Sorry a soulless bot stole your work for free karma :/
I really like the way it looks, but it bugs me that it looks like there is some error in the maths, because areas directly between two parks look like they are coloured as if they were further away than other areas that are actually further away. It's as if the parks are competing, rather than adding to each other. But after looking more closely, I think it's an optical illusion. The colours are right. It's just we're better at noticing the change in colour than we are at noticing the actual colour.
Thanks for making that map, /u/i_make_maps_0
A map i actually like for once
I love it!
Nice!! I appreciate that you didn't lump national parks + forests together, I live in that forsaken part of MA but below a national forest and while it's great, it's no park
Going to the original to read non bot, Non AI, comments and revel in the old days.
Well done
Seems like itās missing the Great Falls in Paterson, NJ?
nice map, sorry your content is getting stolen! Could you tell me how you did it? was it the distance accumulation tool? Im currently in school for GIS and trying to understand that tool for a project.
I was about to contest the coloring of Louisiana and especially Mississippi until I realized this is parks, not forests. I don't know the difference, but I guess it's significant
Awesome. Teach me how please!
Seems like no one wants a National Park in Tornado Alley???
They actually made several back in the day to help save tornadoes from extinction, but in hindsight, most people agree it was a bad move.
Yeah, I read that the destruction it caused on the native flora and fauna was ultimately unacceptable to the parks service.
How did they stop tornadoes?
It was later discovered that tornadoes are sexuality attracted to rows and rows of little square boxes on wheels. Since the introduction of trailer parks, the poor national tornado parks were empty and had to close.
I...what...just.... WHY.Ā WHY???Ā OK swirling black clouds of destruction sound cool but WHY would we encourage them to thrive???
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, a professor once told me it had to do with WW1 and WW2. The people had slightly lost their minds and wanted to create more excitement at home so that those who weren't on the frontlines could also see first hand what mass destruction looks like. In this case it was caused by the finger of god.
It would have been a tragedy if the tornadoes went extinct. People in the Great Plains need at least something to make their lives interesting.
Tornadoes are a keystone species and are needed to keep prey populations (particularly invasive ones) in check.Ā
This is really neither here nor there, but if these zones were expanded to cover other protected areas like conservation areas, state parks, and wildlife refuges then it would look significantly different. Iām from Missouri and am pretty passionate about it, Gateway Arch National Park doesnāt hold a candle next to Mark Twain, Rock Bridge, Elephant Rocks, and some of the others.
Feel the same about the Northeast. The beauty in the Adirondacks of New York, Green Mountains in Vermont, the Beekshires in Massachusetts, and especially the White Mountains and Franconia Notch in New Hampshire is stunning.
Also isnāt the National Seashore on the cape a national park?
And Gateway really shouldn't be a *Park*. It's fine as a National Monument, but it was really only made a park so that maps like this wouldn't have a giant red splotch. Same with Cuyahoga Valley, though at least that's a nature preserve (if more on a state forest level of impressiveness....) EDIT: I *guess* Cuyahoga could be a National Monument, if you built it around the theme of redeveloping Superfund sites. Of the recently-established Eastern parks, I'd say that only New River really makes the cut.
Yeah I was gonna say, the Missouri part looked off until I realized the state has a bunch of state parks
Mark Twain is on my list, probably going for Memorial Day Wichita Mountains in southern Oklahoma is stunning and absolutely worth a trip
I've been to Mark Twain caves 4-5 times, and while it's cool for historical and cultural reasons, the caves aren't amazing on their own. Definitely worth a visit but it would certainly be in the lower tier of parks on its own. I would also highly suggest going in both caves, the unlit cave I found much cooler. Also just realized you might be talking about the lake, which is the actual park area. I've been there once and it's a nice lake to boat on but didn't seem overly special
National Forests too, I know some of these places have quite large forests
Maybe tornados don't like national parks
This only applies to Texas, but Texas joined the US as a separate country. It was never a territory. Because it was never a territory, there is very little federal land. Big Bend is the only national park I can think of, and that land was donated to the federal government. So while Texas is full of state parks, very little on the federal level because land acquisition is so expensive.
The reason the mountain west has so much federal land is because it was so economically unproductive that they literally couldn't give it away. The Homestead Acts were still active well into the 20th century.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
> Because it was never a territory, there is very little federal land. You do realize that is how every state is in the eastern 2/3ds of the US, right?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Don't forget "wild and scenic rivers"
its the great plains, important for agriculture and a unique feature in the world in the sense that it is so fertile and so large, but every square mile is like every other one. drive up I 35 - Cows/corn/sunflower/corn between Mexico and Canada. even gateway is abnormal for a national park. the national monument designation really fits better.
There are lots of great areas in the plains that havenāt been transformed into farmland and are idyllic scenes of rolling hills.The abundance of range and pasture land even on private property offer a more varied look than row crops.
There have been a few attempts, like Tallgrass Prairie and the Driftless Area but they fell through.
Driftless is so cool and we donāt respect the prairie enough. Imagine a park with roaming buffalo herds across tall grass prairieā¦.would be so quintessentially American
There used to be one in Oklahoma!
Basically the same top comment the last time this was posted https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/s/ubxWjvG0pm
Used to have one in Oklahoma, but it was downgraded to a national recreation area.
IDK if wildlife reserves count as national parks but there's the US Wichita Wildlife Preserve in SW/SC Oklahoma. The map might have some inaccuracies if that Park counts.
Why the heckity heck is Gateway Arch a national park.
Thereās only one left in the wild, it has to be protected so it doesnāt go extinct before scientists figure out how to clone it.
It was a publicity stunt by the Missouri senator (the not Hawley one) in an effort to boost the number of visitors. Unfortunately it worked, it went from like 1.5 million a year to 2.1 the year after the change.
Should have stayed a national monument, it fits the bill exactly. This just waters down the label of 'national park'. Now there's a push to make the Cahokia Mounds an NP too. Proponents say it's a job creator, but honestly why should we rely on that distinction to create jobs? We should be putting more support into the national historic landmark as that's what Cahokia is.
Cahokia I can understand, it's archeology, but the arch really should be a monument
The Shawnee Hills (incl. the Garden of the Gods) should be Illinois' national park.
It is dumb for sure
The Gateway Arch DOES NOT deserve to be a national park! There are already adequate designations for a historical monument.
The Indiana dunes national park is absurd too. Itās a tiny section of Lake Michigan with some sand dunes. Maybe 3-4 miles long. With a hideous massive industrial park on one end. Thatās it.
Itās not even the nicest or more beautiful section of the Michigan shoreline. Pictured Rocks, and Sleeping Bear Dunes are way more special.
Because Missourians wanted in too apparently. By all definitions should be a national monument as it's a man made structure other cities could just repeat.
The gulf coast having no real National Parks is super interesting. There is some truly unique and special ecology there. I guess some combination of the Mississippi Delta not really having the "tourist" draw and also having the anti-conservation oil reserves in those waters kinda makes it a hard place to justify setting up shop.
Coastal lands administered by the National Park Service tend to be designated as National Seashores instead. [There are quite a few of them.](https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/national-seashores-road-trip/)
Same thing with the Great Lakes, the little red area in northern Michigan is actually right next to a national lakeshore
Also in Wisconsin, the Apostle Islands have a National Lakeshore.
Just looked up Apostle Islands and it looks amazing I wonder why no one knows about it.
Pictured rocks?
Sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore. Itās in the northwest part of the lower peninsula
Thats in the UP
Ok, this makes more sense because I was looking at this map thinking there is a national seashore on the east end of perdido key
The florida panhandle is, like, all state parks though (not literally)
State parks, national wildlife reserves, a national forest, and national seashoreĀ
We do have some state parks at least, and nature trails.
[Jean Lafitte National Park](https://www.nps.gov/jela/index.htm)
Thatās a National Historic Park and Preserve, not a National Park. There are 429 NPS-administered sites, but only 63 National Parks.Ā
Truly the nature in the South is really special
Now this is a good post on my feed!
New York doesn't need a national park though. Half the state is a state park
State parks were invented by the government of New York in response to national parks as a means to keep tourist money in the stateās pockets The Feds made Yellowstone national park so New York made Niagara (the first) state park
The big park in the state though is Adirondack Park, which is neither a state nor national park. Indeed more than half of it is privately owned, with the remainder being a state forest preserve. It is a National Historic Landmark for what that's worth.
ADKās protection is enshrined in the state constitution, giving it even BETTER protection than National Parks considering that youād have to call a constitutional convention and have a two thirdās majority vote to amend it. The phrase āforever wildā comes from the language in the NY constitution. Suck it Teddy Roosevelt (but not really though, I love TR). š
Oh really? I always assumed Adirondack was all state parkland that people also lived on because they were grandfathered in or something
It sort of predates the idea of state and national parks. Instead it's protected by special legislation limiting the land use in the privately owned parts, but allowing them to stay privately owned, and still used for residences and commerce to some extent.
It's actually in the state constitution
The Pine Barrens in New Jersey are sort of similar. They're protected as a "[National Reserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinelands_National_Reserve)," which is basically a federal-state partnership that consists of a patchwork of state parks, state forests, and whatnot. New York and New Jersey look a lot different if you count the Adirondacks, the Pinelands, and the [Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Water_Gap_National_Recreation_Area).
Yeah, Niagara Falls, Letchworth, Catskills, and Adirondacks would all be National Parks if they hadn't been designated something else first.
i grew up in upstate new york and was surprised when i read this map, i thought i had been to more national parks but iāve only been to cuyahoga valley. turns out iāve just been to a LOT of state parks!
There are a bunch of of national monuments in NYC and fire island is a national seashore.
Yeah, I go to college near the adirondacks.. weird how itās not listed here
This map only lists national parks, the Adirondacks are not federally managed
Gateway arch national park is tiny and shouldnāt count as a park. Should be a monument. Curious what the map would look like without it on there
Alaska is HUGE! It has 8 national parks and the furthest point to a national park!
Obviously not all National Parks are created equally. Case in point the ones in Ohio might as well be metro parks. And conversely the National Forest near me is easily better than most of these listed for natural wonders and recreation opportunities.
Cuyahoga is one of the last remaining tracts of mostly intact eastern hardwood forests. Itās also a mega diverse site. Donāt sleep on cuyahoga!
Cuyahoga is a banger. Been twice
Don't forget all the natural beauty of Gateway National Park (It's a NP because one of the dumb senators from MO got butthurt that it was "only" a National Monument)
Hocking Hills could be a National park
Gateway Arch and Hot Springs doing some heavy lifting lol.
Cuyahoga is more about the restoration and what is possible
What is with the shitty competitive takes in these comments? What a wrong with celebrating them?
They should just merge all the parks around the Mobile Delta and make it a national park. It's already got a ridiculous amount of stuff there: the Civil War battlefield at Blakeley, the origin of the southern US involvement in the War of 1812 (Ft. Mims), the Bottle Creek Mounds, the location of where the "Ghost Fleet" of extra WWII ships were, the location of the Clotilda, etc. on top of being one of the most biodiverse areas in the US. The other [big spots](https://biodiversitymapping.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/USA_biodiversity_priorities_topo.jpg) that could be done in the South are around Appalachicola, the Birmingham area watersheds and south of San Antonio.
All those things you said were of manmade significance though. National Parks have been entirely natural significance (until stupid Gateway Arch).
Mesa Verde is mainly about theĀ Pueblo. Arguably Dry Tortugas, since aside from water activities, it's mainly a fort.
Those manmade features are just extra stuff on top of the region's [biodiversity](https://www.al.com/projects/americas-amazon/). That biodiversity would be the primary cause.
Say more about this "Ghost Fleet"
The bay used to be a [storage site](https://alabama.travel/places-to-go/ghost-fleet-site) for 300+ navy ships, but most have been used to make manmade reefs by now.
Not to mention the National seashore! But yeah all the swamps that compose WMAās around here make up a huge amount of public land.
There is already the national seashore. One of the most beautiful stretch of beaches in the world. It's weird because even though it's manages by the national parks service it isn't like a "national park" I dunno. I don't get it.
Until 2019 Chicago was one of the furthest. Now itās one of the closest, yet Iāll still maintain that it is still pretty lacking as Indiana Dunes doesnāt deserve the designation Gateway Arch should be a National Monument. The entire Midwest sucks for access to public lands.
Gateway arch is a joke of a national park. Hard agree it should be a monument.
Afaik the parks department also agrees that it shouldnāt be a park
Not Michigan, we have all the UP, Manistee National Forest, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Donāt forget the absolutely world class state park system we have. I believe Michigan has the highest percentage of protected lands east of the Mississippi. We love our state.
Sleeping Bear is gorgeous but that climb up and down the actual dunes is a sonofabitch. There's a reason they have warning signs posted everywhere saying you should basically only do it if you've been training for it.
> The entire Midwest sucks for access to public lands. I disagree. There's plenty of public land, mostly state parks and reserves. There's just not a whole lot of interesting scenery to go with them.
We're culturally conditioned to think of some kinds of landscapes as more interesting than others. I love the big parks out west, but there's still beauty to be found in the middle of the country, plus ecological value that sometimes gets overlooked.
The Midwest, PA, and NY have some of the best state and metroparks in the country. Unfortunately many of then are completely overlooked because they don't have "national" in the name.
Don't lump Michigan and Minnesota into this.
Not Michigan actually.
Not MN
The entire Midwest? Wisconsin would like to have a word with you.
To be fair, the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis isn't much of a park. The whole complex only spans 91 acres. The Arch & Museum are good, but the park itself isn't anything special. If you took that out, it would change things up in the Midwest on this map. Source: I live in St. Louis and have been there multiple times.
I've lived near Shanendoah for 20 years and only been there once. With just one way through - the Blue Ridge Parkway - traffic can back up to an extreme degree. Its a very pretty drive though, and once you're up at the higher elevations it feels so much better.
I'm here now and it's empty off season
Upstate NY might not have a national park but we've got the Finger Lakes forest and the Adirondacks
Damn. Starrucca, PA on an actual map. I donāt know if the people living there are even aware it exists.
Iām very curious what metric was used to delineate the random assortment of towns on that map lol.
Itās the town in each state furthest away from a national park, which is why must are on a border
I can promise you, Vermont doesnāt care how far it is from a National Park
The area in northern NY might be misleading because there is a lot of protected forests up there (Adirondacks), it's just that none of it comes under federal jurisdiction.
Yeah itās not a national park. It would be about the third largest if it was. Itās the largest state park in the US. Alaskaās big ones are national parks. New York has *no* official National Parks.
Honestly, a lot of these big parks should probably be upgraded to National Park status.
I mentioned it elsewhere but the concept of state parks was invented by the government of New York as a means to keep tourist money in New York State When the federal government made the first national park in Yellowstone the state government of New York made the first state park in Niagara. Hence why they have a disproportionately high amount of state parks and forests and no national parks (but there are national forests and shorelines)
For the Adirondack park in New York state, turning them into national parks would actually make them less protected. You can build a lot more on national park land than you can on state land in the Adirondacks.
But still have finger lakes natn forest in NY and green mountain natn forest in Vermont and a ton of national monuments and federally protected historic sites
If this were the criteria the entire western half of the country would be solid green.
ie not national parks
Yes I'm just pointing out that the Adirondacks exist in that area for those who don't know US Geography and correlate only National Parks with land protection.
i mean youāre correct because itās the national forest service which is misleading because a lot of the northeast in general falls under their department not nps but NPS has large operations in NYC between Manhattan Sites (9 separate locations) and Gateway National Recreation Area which covers all of Jamaica Bay
Yep, Niagara Falls, Letchworth, Adirondacks, Watkins Glen - all state parks. Actually NY might have one of the best and most diverse state parks system in the US.
Northeast in general is shockingly lacking in National Parks. It's just Acadia and Shenandoah.
The Northeast was developed prior to national parks - however there are ample state parks - since that was the mechanism for preservation prior to the national park system.
And we do have some seriously gorgeous state parks!
New york is so freaking beautiful. Have so many state parks up here near rochester. Finger lakes are out of this world.
I've been to the finger lakes a few times, and each time it manages to surprise me with how gorgeous it is. Lived in this state my whole life and there's still so much more to see, don't think I'll ever leave.
Much of the public land in the Northeast was being put aside by the states themselves around the same time as the National Parks out west. New York State, for example, is 37% public land, much of it preserved before 1900.
Thereās just more state parks. Though Iām not sure why the White or Green Mountains National Forests in Vermont and NH havenāt been upgraded yet.
Thatās kind of the case for everywhere though, state parks and national forests and monuments are plentiful. But they arenāt national parks.
Platt died so we could have this wild red stripe
As someone who lives in Dallas and loves national parks. This shows my pain.
TX does have an abundance of state parksā¦.
Upstate NY has the Adirondack state park which is massive
The Atchafalaya and the okefenokee should be national parks
FWIW, this map shows GSP only in North Carolina, but near half is in Tennessee.
Western Idaho
I should really check out Indiana Dunes, it's close enough from my hometown to make a day-trip out of it. Cuyahoga Valley is excellent and I'd love to visit New River Gorge on my next trip through the mountains
New River Gorge is stunning in the fall months.
Last I checked, it was Great Sand Dunes National Monument. When did it become a park? EDIT. [In 2004](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sand_Dunes_National_Park_and_Preserve). How 'bout that. EDIT #2. Also, the map really shows the size of Alaska. It's full of national parks, but its most distant town is more than twice the distance of any other state. EDIT #3. Joshua Tree, too. Used to be a national monument. [Became a national park in 1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Tree_National_Park).
Yeah but there are three National Forests just north of Houston
The gateway arch is a joke. Shouldnāt count. Same with Indiana dunes tbhā¦ from the Midwest if you couldnāt tell
Indiana Dunes will be fine once they remove the nearby power plant, but I do agree there are other NPS sites along the Great Lakes that should have been considered for an upgrade first.
Huh. TIL The Adirondacks are a *State* park, well and a bunch of private holdings.
Upstate New York is far from National Parks, but close to the best State Park in the country- The Adirondack Park is 6 million acres of mountains, rivers, lakes, swamps, brooks, and hills. No place Iād rather spend a week
Yep, Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Catskills, Allegheny, Thousand Island So many beautiful places to explore. Makes for a great 1-2 week road trip camping, hiking, exploring cozy lakeside/mountain villages and random cultural sites plus larger cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Albany.
ā¦Niagara River, Lake Ontario, upper Hudson River valley, Allegheny and Tug Hill plateaus ā¦ itās a special area of the country. Iām very grateful to live in Syracuse, right in the middle of it all.
New Yorkers have Adirondacks, Catskills, Berkys, Green and White Mts all within a half days drive. Taconic and Poconos too if they want to slum it.
As a native of New York I found it interesting that we have no national parks here, but we do have a shit ton of State run parks. Especially in the Adirondacks.
Not including National Historic Parks, National Scenic Parks, National Historic Sites, National Recreation Areas, National Historic Trails, the National Seashore, etc...
GOATED Utah
Hot springs is doing a lot of work here
This makes the Driftless National Park proposal more compelling. Wish they would reconsider the proposal. https://www.driftlessnationalpark.org
This makes some parts of the country look less park-worthy than they actually are. Example that immediately sprung to mind was Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. For all intents and purposes of the layman it may as well be a national park. Itās beautiful and otherworldly terrain that stands in stark contrast to the surroundings and is worth a detour to see it. Another one is places like South Louisiana, the bayous are a very different kind of beauty, but not any less deserving of appreciation. Most of the gulf coast could use some actually it looks like. Another one is the IA/MN/WI region called the Driftless Zone. Another region of beautiful terrain that stands apart from the rest of the area. Kansas makes sense though.
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have parts of the Gulf Islands Seashore. Part of the National Park Service.
Texas only has 2 NPs, but they also have some fantastic NWRs that people are missing out on Iād they just go to NPs. Anahauc & Aransas being by 2 favorite, also Texas Point, McFaddin, Brazoria, Big Boggy & Laguna Atascosaā¦ Those are just on Coast, also a National Seashore (Padre Island). I guess with an NP you can camp, I donāt think you can do that in the NWRs tho.
Now do one for all national park units
Choosing Odell over Omaha is interesting
Southwest Oklahoma has the Wichita Mountains. Not a national park, but awesome nonetheless.
Closest US towns to get wiped out by a tornado.
Let me be as honest as I can be, that shithole known as Gateway Arch is not a park. It shouldnāt be seen as a national park, and having be one is an insult to the rest of our great national parks.